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Beyond the Sets and Reps: An Introduction.

Therein lies a correlation between the brain and body that is a direct result of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding sports science. Beyond the programming is an interaction of disciplines closely examining the chaotic nature of our being. With The Rebel Movement blog, our mission is to investigate and further the science and philosophy of motor performance. Through our collaborative approach of skill acquisition and movement analysis, we will provide thought-provoking content applicable to athletes, coaches, researchers, and practitioners. Your feedback is vital to the blog’s mission, so please feel free to provide your thoughts, comments, and considerations. We look forward to building a stronger foundation for the sports science community.

That’s a great question and one that depends on a multitude of factors. The first being the athlete’s training “age” aka how much experience they have with training, whether it be strength, plyometrics, etc. The sport and position within that sport will also influence the training load imposed upon an athlete (e.g. a goalie vs a midfielder have difference demands during sport, so training may differ). Another is the actual goals of training that the athlete desires, as you stated. If an athlete wants to develop a stronger lower body, more emphasis should be placed there as opposed to an athlete who states the upper body as a point of weakness. To summarize, the best way to know the correct number of sets and reps for your athlete is to gain as much insight as possible into what he/she has done in the past, what he/she is doing presently, and what he/she would like to achieve in the future.

Sorry for the delayed response Kumar. But yes age can certainly be a factor for conditioning. Often the case, younger athletes are unable to handle similar training loads compared to older athletes in terms of strength training, anaerobic / aerobic conditioning, as well as loads outside of sport (school, jobs, etc.). So age is something one should consider when implementing a training program with an athlete. I would tend to start slow with a younger athlete given that these athletes often do not have a prior history of training.